$$$ and chiropractors

[dreamin_disney]

Thanks everyone. I feel it in my bones(lol) that i picked a good one. He was highly recommended by Coworkers and they only have positive things to say about him.

as far as ear pressure - he explained it and it made sense. I just get a very good feeling from him that there will be positive results. I already put dd through the worst of it by taking her to the doctors and having then do procedure on her that didnt work and pain and disomfort. Surgery alone was scarey because theres alway7s a risk. DD said she feels more comfortable with this dr. then the other two she's been witht the last 5-6 years. She said she feels like he can help her and she likes him better. I'll keep everyone posted.

I agree to be careful who you go to. Always go to a chiro that is reccomend by a friend/family. Everyonewhere you go in every profession theres good and theres bad

 

[Magic Mom]

If your insurance covers physical therapy, find a place that specializes in backs. You will get a good treatment and it is covered by ins. I work with back specialized PTs and not only do they get backs into alignment and do treatments to help with the pain (ultrasound, electrical stim, heat etc) but they will also educate you on proper exercises to restore muscle balance so it doesn't happen again.

This isn't to knock chiros, but a budget friendly solution, since this is the budget board

My insurance did not cover chiro, but it did cover PT, and it helped immensly.They used a variety of treatment....electric stim., massage, that stretching "rack" machine and exercises.

 

[Aristomommy]

Any idea how to find one in my area that specializes in backs?.

You can ask your Dr (if you go to a specialist) if they have a clinic they recommend. You can also look for a clinic in your town that is a "spine clinic" and call them and ask if they have a therapist on staff that specializes in backs. Sure all PTs know the basics, but to have a PT that is manual therapy or McKenzie certified will give you someone who took extra time to learn about rehabilitating a back. You can also find a specialist through the American Physical Therapy Association (www.apta.org). PM me if you need more help than that.

 

[Aristomommy]

My insurance did not cover chiro, but it did cover PT, and it helped immensly.They used a variety of treatment....electric stim., massage, that stretching "rack" machine and exercises.

The "rack" would be traction. I recently had a patient who went to a chiro for 24 visits for this treatment and spent $4800 out of pocket. When he saw the same machine at our clinic and his ins. would have covered it 100% he was quite upset

 

[LorieR]

I'm going to start seeing a chirprator who uses the Palmer method. Has anyone gone to one who uses this method??? Would love to hear your thoughts.

I'm wondering if having treatments done by a chiro and be expensive? How many session are usually needed. How many times per week are usually scheduled? Is $40 good for an adjustments?

I have been going to my chiropractor on and off for over 20 years. He went to the Palmer Institute. I used to get terrible headaches that would last for weeks at a time before I started going to him.

I hurt my back a few years ago right before a Disney trip, which I had to postpone for a month. I fell and hit my lower back but it was okay until I bent down to pick something up later that day in the shower. I had terrible, terrible pain. I saw the chiropractor once a week for a while, then once every two weeks, then every three weeks, and I now see him once a month just to keep me feeling well. I am fortunate that my insurance covers my treatments with no deductible. I believe mine also charges $40 a visit.

I was able to go on my Disney trip a month or so after my injury and felt good enough to do Splash Mountain, Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, etc.

 

[Colinsmom]

If your insurance covers physical therapy, find a place that specializes in backs. You will get a good treatment and it is covered by ins. I work with back specialized PTs and not only do they get backs into alignment and do treatments to help with the pain (ultrasound, electrical stim, heat etc) but they will also educate you on proper exercises to restore muscle balance so it doesn't happen again.

This isn't to knock chiros, but a budget friendly solution, since this is the budget board

I just wanted to second this advice. I believe that chiropractors have their place, but I've seen three different ones over the past 7-8 years and none of them made a big difference in my quality of life. Sure, they would adjust me and I'd feel better for a little while, but the pain would return and I'd be back on their doorstep. I finally sought out a PT who specializes in the pelvic area (my issues were lower back and aggravated by two pregnancies). She was amazing. I felt like I progressed tremendously while I was seeing her. She taught me exercises to strengthen my abdominals and back muscles. She taught me how to stretch and ice the muscles that tended to give me problems. It's been over 6 months since I last saw her (a record for me) and I love that I'm no longer in chronic pain, and if a muscle starts to rebel, a short session or two of stretching and icing is all it takes to get it back in shape. My quality of life is far better than it ever was when I saw the chiros.

Good luck, and if it doesn't work for you after a certain number of visits, give PT a shot (find someone really, really good - they aren't all created equal).

 

[LorieR]

Ok, I'm going to rain on the parade. My particular area of prosecution is medical insurance fraud, and let me tell you the OVERWHELMING single category of fraudsters are chiros....I know, I know - there are some people who treat Chiro like a religion. I've even been to them myself, though now that I see how the whole thing works out, I wouldn't even consider it [I've seen too many strokes a result of the neck manipulations]. Specifically, unlike going to the doctor, you are never "well." What starts as a "crisis" moves into "maintenance" and "prevention"....seemingly ongoing...at least as long as the insurance pays or the patient gets tired of the never ending appointments.

Take care......

I have been going to my chiropractor for over 20 years. His father has been a chiropractor for over 50 years. Never heard of any of their patients having a stroke but have seen some amazing results people have gotten after coming to them after all else failed, including people after failed back surgery. Just like finding ANY doctor you have to do some research. There are bad medical doctors out there that are also "fraudsters" and you hear about them on the news just about every day.

(People also get strokes getting their hair done... it's called "beauty parlor syndrome." Caused by hyperextending the neck while getting hair washed.)

 

[thomas998]

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[thomas998]

Okay... lets look at some of the post from the pro chiros... we have people that have been going for 20 years... people that have gone for 50 years... well generally if I have a patient I either cure them, send them to a specialist that can or tell them there is no cure.. pretty simple... One should wonder just how effective it is if someone is going for 20 years...

And as for the fraud... I've seen it... I had a friend that worked for blue cross verifying claims... he would show me these x-rays of someones spine... it was what was sent to prove Mr. or Mrs. Jones back was messed up... wow they were curved like crazy... At first look you would have wondered how the person could deal with all that pain.... then you realized that the persons xray was shot from an angle.. so it was just to give the appearance that the spine was out of whack... in other words it was a scam.

And realize that it isn't safe... does anyone think it would be safe to continually pop a joint anywhere on your body in and out of place over and over on a regular basis? Well it isn't... all you can hope to get from that are medical complications that will likely end in arthritis or worse....

I know some people say it makes them feel better but the reality is you would feel just as good or maybe better if you just went somewhere and got a massage.

And yes I know I'm p*&&ing in the wind... I had an uncle that believed in them... no doctor could tell him they were quacks... one of them had him convinced that he shouldn't take his heart meds... so he stopped... 2 weeks later he had a heart attack followed by a stroke... he kept his faith in the quack until he died... paying for his weekly visits and saving money by refusing to take the medicines that would have saved his life... so yes I'm aware that there are people out there that are so gullible that they buy into the BS... But before you start throwing your money away, just do a little internet search on them... and then before you get sucked into a treatment plan look in the yellow pages for a massage parlor, go there one time and see if you don't feel better... remember that feeling and the next day go to your chiropractor... I guarantee you'll find the massage parlor felt just as good or better and cost you less.

 

[Magic Mom]

The "rack" would be traction. I recently had a patient who went to a chiro for 24 visits for this treatment and spent $4800 out of pocket. When he saw the same machine at our clinic and his ins. would have covered it 100% he was quite upset

LOL Thanks. For the life of me I could not think of the word traction. Finally I gave up and called it rack.
Whatever the name.....I LOVE that thing. Of course the massage wasn't bad either. COme to think of it, PT was pretty awesome all around.

 

[mum4jenn]

Well..I am back from my visit with the chiro today. Needless to say....I can NOT afford this. Estimated cost of treatment after what insurance will pay is $2,000 which they want me to pay in weekly installments of over $130 for 14 weeks. I guess I will just have to go to my regular DR and get muscle relaxers instead.

 

[thomas998]

Actually you might best be served by looking in the yellow pages for a D.O. and not a M.D., along those lines if you find one that specializes in sports medicine you might also get better results. It is possible that there is something out of alingment in your back... a D.O. especially one that specializes in sports injuries might be more likely to quickly determine your problem and fix it... the fix might include popping something back into place (only need that once not every week)... and then rely on you doing some at home exercises to strengthen some muscles to allow your body to better support itself.

 

[dreamin_disney]

(People also get strokes getting their hair done... it's called "beauty parlor syndrome." Caused by hyperextending the neck while getting hair washed.)

OMG! Didnt know that but i can believe it. I have really long thick curly hair down to my waist. I just have df cut my hair straight across but once i decede to go to the shop. OMG when they wet my hair in the sink my neck started cramping really bad. I had to get up. My neck was sore for days

 

[mum4jenn]

With me I am dealing with my back and my neck. In the xrays it shows that I have develpoed arthritis and Degenerative Disk Disease...phase 3 in both neck and back. Also my pelvis is not aligned properly. I had an MRI back in 92 and even back then it showed arthritis in my back so this was not a big surprise.
I slipped at work a several weeks ago and I guess I must have jarred something in my neck then because about a week later my neck started getting a little stiff but then about a month later I could barely turn my head without is hurting. I really thought I had just strained it due to having to get all my stuff packed up for our move to the new school.I have had 3 adjustments to the neck and have been putting ice on it and it has gotten better.

I guess I will just still see what other options are out there.

 

[Aristomommy]

Well..I am back from my visit with the chiro today. Needless to say....I can NOT afford this. Estimated cost of treatment after what insurance will pay is $2,000 which they want me to pay in weekly installments of over $130 for 14 weeks. I guess I will just have to go to my regular DR and get muscle relaxers instead.

Sorry to hear your ins. doesn't cover much of it. Are you a candidate for physical therapy? It's better than taking medication and side effects of it. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Aristomommy]

With me I am dealing with my back and my neck. In the xrays it shows that I have develpoed arthritis and Degenerative Disk Disease...phase 3 in both neck and back. Also my pelvis is not aligned properly. I had an MRI back in 92 and even back then it showed arthritis in my back so this was not a big surprise.
I slipped at work a several weeks ago and I guess I must have jarred something in my neck then because about a week later my neck started getting a little stiff but then about a month later I could barely turn my head without is hurting. I really thought I had just strained it due to having to get all my stuff packed up for our move to the new school.I have had 3 adjustments to the neck and have been putting ice on it and it has gotten better.

I guess I will just still see what other options are out there.

Sorry, I didn't see you had updated. If you can go to a specialist without a referral, I would recommend spine specialist. In our area, Neurologists and Pain Management specialists seem to do the best for our patients. You may be a candidate for physical therapy, hopefully your ins. covers that better. If you have arthritis and DDD, it isn't curable but there are many interventions that will improve the quality of life. Chiropractic care would not be a long term answer as this is a progressive thing often and an adjustment may help for the moment, but you may need repeated adjustments and I'm not sure how good that would be for athritic vertebrae. I sincerely hope that you can find relief for your back and neck.

 

[faeriegrl]

I was pressured into seeing chiropractors by my family. I had always viewed them as quacks.

I have had three herniated discs in my back since I was 16 or 17 and spinal stenosis. Not fun. I continued to go to the Chiro but I still also saw a medical doctor for pain control.

Fast forward to me being 35 weeks pregnant and the baby was breech with no sign of ever moving. Everyone told me I was past the point of no return. I did some research that revealed a chiropractic technique that opens the pelvis to allow the baby to flip to a head down position. It's called the webster technique.

At 36 1/2 weeks, I had my first chiropractic visit with a Dr. specializing in Webster. Two days later, I had the 2nd treatment. That night, I felt excruciating pain. It was awful!

The baby had been stuck with her head under my rib cage because I had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in my pelvis. What happened was the Webster technique opened all my bones and the baby flipped! It was amazing. Every medical doctor I have talked to said that was near impossible and I should have had a c-section.

So I do believe that chiropractic is beneficial for things other than "spine" issues. Bodies are interconnected! I do still see medical doctors for my pain management but at least now there are days where I am pain free and I'm operating more on a normal scale than always being in pain. It's always good to balance things in life, especially when it comes to healthcare.

 

[fatewineroses]

Are you saying the chiro will fix her ear? They are specialists of the spine, not sure how that would fix an ear pressure problem? Tubes in ears can fall off in less than a year, both my kids had tubes and one had them for 18 months and a new set was put in.

Some chiropractors believe that the spine is the key to healing everything else in the body.

My last couple of chiropractors were from the Palmer school and I loved them. My mom has had back problems her whole life, so I'm pretty familiar with them.